It seems as if Vikas Goel, chairman and managing director of hard-disk drive distributor eSys Technologies, can do no wrong.
His company has been picking up award after award recently, the latest of which is the Enterprise of the Year Award - given out as part of Singapore Business Awards (SBA) to recognise local small and medium-sized companies.
Prior to that, eSys placed first in the Enterprise 50 rankings late last year, and this year, Mr Goel won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
One can perhaps be forgiven for thinking that winning awards is almost commonplace for Mr Goel. But the 35-year-old still treasures every award, he said.
'Awards act as a compass and tell you that you are moving in the right direction,' said Mr Goel, adding that awards are also milestones which tell him not only how far his company has come but how much further it has to go.
Flying S'pore flag
During his acceptance speech at the Entrepreneur of the Year Award ceremony earlier this month, Mr Goel thanked Singapore for the opportunities it has provided him.
'This country has done a lot for me,' he said then, adding that he is proud to carry the Singapore flag to Monte Carlo, where country winners all over the world go to compete for the global title.
eSys' latest award - SBA's Enterprise of the Year Award - is open to home-grown small and medium companies that are majority locally-owned. The companies can either be privately held or publicly listed, and there is no specific quantitative restriction on size of revenues or profits; this is reviewed by the panel of judges from year to year.
The flexibility worked in eSys' favour this time round - the company, after all, has revenues exceeding many of Singapore's SMEs. Turnover in 2004 clocked in at $2.4 billion, and Mr Goel expects it to hit $3 billion in 2005 once accounts are consolidated. And for 2006, the company is 'looking at around $4 billion', said Mr Goel.
eSys' achievements seem extraordinary, especially when its humble beginnings are considered. The company was founded in 2000 after Mr Goel risked everything - including his future family inheritance - to secure a US$3.5 million loan from the Bank of India.
His faith in the fledging company has since paid off. In its first year of operation as a distributor of computer parts, eSys posted revenues of US$108 million. By the next year, turnover had soared to US$240 million from the company's expansion into 12 countries.
Today, eSys is the world's largest hard-disk drive distributor with a quarter of the global market share, employing more than 1,000 people across the world - including 100 in Singapore.
According to Mr Goel, venturing abroad was a natural step for his company as it has been international right from the start.
In his previous company, he was operating out of the Middle East, and the company's headquarters were in Switzerland. Coming to Singapore and expanding the business was easy for him as having been in the industry since 1996, Mr Goel 'knew all the people in the business and knew how to do the business'.
Going abroad
He also said that unless domestic consumption is strong (and it obviously is not in Singapore), a company has to venture abroad to realise its full potential.
He had a word of caution for firms that think conquering just the domestic market is sufficient. 'Sooner or later, competition comes in. The best way is to pre-empt competition by maintaining global efficiency,' he said.
eSys - which has carved out a niche for itself with one motto: efficiency - is a good example of this. Mr Goel has said previously that the cost of eSys' operations is one-fifth that of the industry and that the company is more than 25 per cent more efficient than its nearest competitor.

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year awards are touted as Oscars of the business world.

To draw a few parallels and put things in perspective - Michael Dell of Dell Computers, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Pierre Omidyar of eBay and Sergey Brin & Larry Page of Google were recipients of the world award in the past. Infosys Chief Mentor N R Narayanamurthy and Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti group of India have been the past recipients of this award in India.

In his acceptance speech Mr Goel said, "An exceptional entrepreneur is able to identify a threat which nobody wants to touch and convert it into an opportunity. Secondly, the successful entrepreneur is a person who looks at a business opportunity and is not self-obsessed by his own beliefs and passions"

Mr Vikas Goel had started eSys Technologies in 2000 in Singapore as Technology Distribution company. Today it is a USD 2 Billion Transnational with 112 offices in 33 countries. With global leadership position in Hard Disk Drive Distribution and other Technology products, eSys has successfully diversified into PC Manufacturing and IT&BPO Services.

eSys has followed an innovative and efficient approach for its PC business by setting up plants next to its Regional Logistics hubs for Technology Components Distribution business. This brings in synergies and helps bring cost of manufacturing PC considerably down. Currently eSys has four such state of the art, software controlled facilities in Singapore, Dubai, Los Angeles and New Delhi.

After completing his MBA in India, Mr Goel came to Singapore to work for a distribution company in 1996. He worked hard and kept on moving up the ladder in professional world and worked in companies like Fujitsu before founding eSys.

When asked what does work mean to him, his answer is simple but powerful, “It’s about making your business your passion, rather than making your passion your business”

On eSys business model and efficiency Mr Goel said, “eSys is a company with strong fundamentals. We have brick-and-mortar business on ground. [The] worldwide web of eSys business offices and warehouses is a testimony to that. Physical business is supported by a robust, cost-effective business platform consisting of innovative IT infrastructure and efficient process management model. One of the strong reasons for our sustainability is efficiency. Our business platform is 500 per cent more efficient than [that of] our competitors.”
On the evening of 9 March 2006, at the Rizt Carlton Ballroom Mr Vikas Goel, Chairman & MD of eSys Technologies, was adjudged Singapore “Entrepreneur of the Year 2005”. He was also adjudged winner in the “Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year” Category. As Entrepreneur of the Year 2005 he will represent Singapore for "Worldwide Entrepreneur of the Year Awards" in Monte Carlo in Monaco in June 2006 in which winner will be chosen from 40 award winning entrepreneurs from different countries.

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year awards are touted as Oscars of the business world.

To draw a few parallels and put things in perspective - Michael Dell of Dell Computers, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Pierre Omidyar of eBay and Sergey Brin & Larry Page of Google were recipients of the world award in the past. Infosys Chief Mentor N R Narayanamurthy and Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti group of India have been the past recipients of this award in India.

In his acceptance speech Mr Goel said, "An exceptional entrepreneur is able to identify a threat which nobody wants to touch and convert it into an opportunity. Secondly, the successful entrepreneur is a person who looks at a business opportunity and is not self-obsessed by his own beliefs and passions"

Mr Vikas Goel had started eSys Technologies in 2000 in Singapore as Technology Distribution company. Today it is a USD 2 Billion Transnational with 112 offices in 33 countries. With global leadership position in Hard Disk Drive Distribution and other Technology products, eSys has successfully diversified into PC Manufacturing and IT&BPO Services.

eSys has followed an innovative and efficient approach for its PC business by setting up plants next to its Regional Logistics hubs for Technology Components Distribution business. This brings in synergies and helps bring cost of manufacturing PC considerably down. Currently eSys has four such state of the art, software controlled facilities in Singapore, Dubai, Los Angeles and New Delhi.

After completing his MBA in India, Mr Goel came to Singapore to work for a distribution company in 1996. He worked hard and kept on moving up the ladder in professional world and worked in companies like Fujitsu before founding eSys.

When asked what does work mean to him, his answer is simple but powerful, “It’s about making your business your passion, rather than making your passion your business”

On eSys business model and efficiency Mr Goel said, “eSys is a company with strong fundamentals. We have brick-and-mortar business on ground. [The] worldwide web of eSys business offices and warehouses is a testimony to that. Physical business is supported by a robust, cost-effective business platform consisting of innovative IT infrastructure and efficient process management model. One of the strong reasons for our sustainability is efficiency. Our business platform is 500 per cent more efficient than [that of] our competitors.”